Recessed lighting fixture



1951 M. w. SCHWARTZ 2,997,575

RECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed July 25, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I a. ,LOH59 If,

INVENTOR.

MARTIN W. SCHWARTZ ATT'Y 1961 M. w. SCHWARTZ 2,997,575

RECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed July 23, 1954 2 SheetsSheet 2 I I lINVENTOR.

MARTIN W. SCHWARTZ 88 M. WWW/ta ATT'Y United States Patent 2,997,575 IRECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURE Martin W. Schwartz, Chicago, 111., assignor toMarkstone Manufacturing "Company, a corporation of Illinois Filed July23, 1954, Ser. No. 445,301 Claims. (Cl. 240-78) This invention relatesto a fighting fixture of the re cessed type, and in particular itrelates to such a fixture which has a junction box attached in spacedrelationship to one of its side walls.

The present fixture is of the type in which a lamp housing may bemounted within a ceiling with its lower margin flush with the ceilingsurface, and in which an attached junction box facing an opening in thehousing wall for easy access is sufliciently insulated from the interiorof the housing to comply with temperature restriction of the NationalBoard of Fire Underwriters.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a recessed lightingfixture with attached junction box in which a double closure assemblyfor the opening in the housing wall and for the facing side of thejunction box provide heat baflie means insulating the interior of thebox.

Another object of the invention is to provide a recessed lightingfixture which has a double closure assembly consisting of two spacedclosure plates mounted on opposite ends of parallel arms, one plate toclose the side of an attached junction box and the other to close anopening in a sidewall of the lamp housing, and in which a bracketmounted on the housing closure plate has a lamp socket supportingportion in spaced relationship to said plate.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a recessed lightingfixture which has an attached junction box mounted in spacedrelationship to an opening in a Wall of the lamp housing, and in whichmounting arms for the junction box cooperate with the connecting arms tothe double closure assembly to provide a circumferentially enclosedwireway through which the lamp lead wires extend from the lamp housinginto the junction box.

A further object of the invention is to provide a recessed lightingfixture with a lamp housing having a top plate in which an integralreflector is formed.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the specification and willbe apparent from the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recessed lighting fixture constructedin accordance with the invention, the fixture being viewedfrom below asinstalled in a ceiling;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the recessed lighting fixture as seenfrom above;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the diffuser frame and plateswung downwardly away from the lamp housing for access to the interiorof the housing;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view on an enlarged scale showingthe means of attaching a top plate to the sidewall of the housing;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the diffuser retainingmeans in the closed position of the diffuser plate;

FIG. 6 is a central vertical sectional view through the lamp housing, toshow a preferred shape of the integral reflector which is formed in thetop plate of the housing;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the lighting fixture as viewed from theunderside, with the fixture inverted, and a portion of the difluserframe broken away to illustrate the attachment of the junction box andthe mounting for the lamp socket;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the double closure assembly whichprovides the heat baflie means for the junction box; and

'ice

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing the connection andrelationship between the double closure assembly, the junction box, andthe junction box mounting arms.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, the recessed lightingfixture of the present invention includes a lamp housing, indicatedgenerally at H, said housing having an upright marginal wall 10 which ispreferably formed of a single strip of metal folded at right angles toform three corners, and leaving a corner open with a projection 12 (FIG.4) which overlaps the adjacent free end of the metal strip so thatfastening means 13 may be inserted through registering openings 14 and16 in the projection 12 and the adjacent end.

At the upper end of the marginal wall is an inwardly open U-shapedchannel 18 in which is seated a top plate 20 which is closely enclosedby the channel when the corner of the marginal wall 10 is fastened. Itis obvious that a cylindrical lamp housing might be similarlyconstructed with a circular top plate 20, and that instead of making themarginal wall 10 in one piece, it may be made in several pieces suitablyconnected with one another.

To simplify the manufacture and assembly of the lamp housing, and toreduce the cost of the entire unit, top plate 20 has an integralreflector 22 in the form of an outwardly convex central portion whichmay be spherical, parabolic, or of such other shape as to suitablyreflect light from a lamp in the housing H. Preferably integralreflector 22 has a reversely curved, inwardly extending center area 24,and the inner surface of reflector 22 is preferably provided with areflective coating 26.

A diffuser frame 28 has an upright flange 36 which seats within marginalwall 10, and a pair of hairpin springs 30 secured to studs 32 ofbrackets 34 at the opposite outer sides of flange 36 have arms whichmake sliding engagement with slots 39 in angle plates 40 at 0ppositesides of marginal wall 10 of the housing. The arms of hairpin springs 30are provided with hooks 38 to prevent accidental disengagement of thesprings from the flanges 40. As seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, the spring armsare biased outwardly so that they may hold the diffuser frame firmlyagainst the lower edge of marginal wall 10, as seen in FIG. 5, or may bepulled downwardly, as seen in FIG. 3, to provide access to the interiorof the housing. A glass diiiuser plate 42 is releasably confined in thediffuser frame by metal clips44 which are secured to upright flange 36of the diffuser frame and bear upon the diffuser to hold it in place.

The fixture assembly is mounted in a ceiling in a conventional manner bymeans of keyhole slots 46 and 48 in marginal wall 10 which may beengaged by any required fasteners to secure the fixture to aconventional plaster frame.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 6 to 9, marginal wall -10 of the housing isprovided with a rectangular opening 50, and a junction box 52 has sidewalls 53 provided with integral arms 54 of reduced height which flankopening 50 and have outturned flanges 58 soldered or spot welded to wall19. Thus, the inner margins 53a of the side Walls are spaced from thehousing wall; and box 52 also has a top Wall 55 and a bottom wall 59 therespective inner margins 55a and 59a of which are spaced from thehousing wall so that the box has an open side 57 confronting and spacedfrom opening 50. The arms 54 are best seen in FIG. 9 to bechannel-shaped in cross section, with inwardly extending flanges 56which project into the area in front of open side 57 of junction box 52.The walls of junction box 52 are provided with the usual partiallysevered knockouts 60 which may be removed to provide openings throughwhich conduit or flexible tubing carrying electrical supply wires mayenter into the interior of the junction box.

As best seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, a double closure assembly, indicatedgenerally at 68, includes a closure plate 70 which closes the opening 50in housing wall 10, a junction box closure plate 72 which covers theopen side 57 of the junction box, and a pair of connectingchannel-shaped arms 74 to the opposite ends of which the closure platesare secured. Channel-shaped arms 74 have outwardly extending flanges 77which embrace flanges 56 of junction box mounting arms 54; and as seenin FIGS. 8 and 9 junction box closure plate 72 has notches 73registering with the ends of channels 74 so that the double closureassembly may be slidably mounted'upon junction box arms 54 to provide apair of circumferentially enclosed wireways between the junction box andthe housing wall.

At one end of channel arms 74 are inturned ears 58 to which housingclosure 70 is spot welded, while junction box closure 72 is clampedbetween the ends of channel arm flanges 77 and a pair of inturned ears75 formed on the ends of the channel arms.

A lamp stocket bracket 80 has coplanar attaching flanges 81 to receivescrews or other fasteners 82 by means of which the socket bracket isattached to housing closure plate 70, and an offset socket carryingplate 83 receives a lamp socket 86 of conventional construction. Lampsocket lead wires 88 extend from lamp socket 86 through a notch 90 whichis formed in a margin of housing closure plate 74 in register with oneof the wireways, so that the wires 38 may extend through the wirew-ayinto the junction box where they are spliced to electric supply leads.Although the frictional interfitting of channel arms 74 with channelarms 54 is normally adequate to prevent accidental displacement of thedouble closure assembly, the assembly is preferably detachably fastenedto peripheral wall it} by a screw 76 ,Which extends through a hole 78 inhousing closure plate 70, and into a hole in peripheral wall 10. Whenthe double closure assembly is in place as illustrated in FIG. 7 of thedrawing, lamp socket 84 is so positioned with respect to the center ofdome-like reflector 22 that a lamp bulb of specified size may be screwedinto the socket and have the central portion of the bulb directlybeneath the reversely curved central area 24 of the reflector.

The arrangement of junction box 52 with the inner :margins of its topand bottom walls spaced from the housing wall leaves a space between theconnecting arms 74 of closure assembly 68 which is open to the ambientatmosphere for free circulation of air between the housing and thejunction box when the closure assembly is in place.

While a preferred construction has been described in some detail, itshould be regarded as an example or an illustration rather than as arestriction or limitation of the invention, as various changes in theconstruction, combination, and arrangement of the parts may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

I claim:

1. A recessed lighting fixture, comprising: a fixture housing having acontinuous upright marginal wall and an integral top plate, there beingan opening in said wall;

' a pair of mounting arms secured to said wall flanking opposite sidesof said opening, said arms being perpendicular to the plane of theopening and one of said mounting arms being channel-shaped 'withinwardly extending flanges; a junction box secured to said arms, saidbox having an open side confronting and spaced from the opening; aclosure assembly having a junction box closure plate and a housingclosure plate mounted at opposite ends of a pair of connecting arms,there being aligned holes in said plates adjacent one of the connectingarms, said connecting arms making a snug sliding fit between themounting arms, and the connecting arm adjacent said holes beingchannel-shaped with outwardly extending flanges slidably embraced by theflanges on the channel-shaped mounting arm and cooperating with saidchannel-shaped mounting arm to form a circumferentially closed wirewaywhich is open to the housing and the junction box throughsaid holes; anda lamp socket in the housing.

2.A recessed lighting fixture, comprising: a fixture housing having acontinuous upright marginal wall and an integral top plate, there beingan opening in said wall; a pair of mounting arms-secured to said wallflanking opposite sides of said opening, said arms having their outerends spaced outwardly from said opening and being perpendicular to theplane of the opening; a junction box secured to the outer ends of saidarms, said box having a top and a bottom wall the inner margins of whichare spaced from the housing and defining an open side confronting andspaced from the opening; a closure assembly having a junction boxclosure plate and a housing closure plate mounted at opposite ends of apair of connecting arms, there being aligned holes in said platesadjacent one of the connecting arms, said connecting arms making a snugsliding fit between the mounting arms to removably position the housingclosure plate closing the opening in the housing wall and the junctionbox closure plate closing the open side of the junction box, and theconnecting arm adjacent said holes having means adjacent said mountingarm forming a circumferentially closed wirew'ay which is open to thehousing and the junction box through said holes, the space between saidconnecting arms and said junction box and housing closure plates beingopen to the ambient atmosphere; and a lamp socket in the housing.

3. The device of claim 2 in which the lamp socket is mounted on thehousing closure plate.

4. The device of claim 2 in which one of the mounting arms ischannel-shaped, and the adjacent connecting arm closes the open side ofthe channel when the closure assembly is in position on the housing.

5. The device of claim 2 in which a bracket is secured to the inner faceof the housing closure plate with a mounting plate in spacedrelationship to the closure plate, and the lamp socket is supported onthe mounting plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,361,354 Arnett Dec. 7, 1920 1,473,742 Schaefer Nov. 13, 1923 2,094,670Rambusch Oct. 5, 1937 2,179,161 Rambusch et al. Nov. 7, 1939 2,226,670:Pratt et a1 Dec. 31, 1940 2,232,276 Schepmoes Feb. 18, 1941 2,258,354Doane Oct. 7, 1941 2,544,708 Margolis Mar. 13, 1951 2,625,290 Kice etal. Jan. 13, 1953 2,630,521 Kirlin Mar. 3, 1953 2,639,368 Pryne May 19,1953 2,644,602 Ross July 7, 1953 2,701,299 Florence Feb. 1, 19552,717,955 Schwemmer eta-l. Sept. 13, 1955

